Nearly a decade ago the people of Weston-Super-Mare woke up to find that their town had been chosedn as the home of what looked like a new theme park.
The disused site of an outdoor swimming pool, the Tropicana, on the seafront had been reopened under the name Dismaland.
But anyone taking a closer look could see that the attractions on display were not the usual seaside fare.
There were statues of killer whales leaping from toilet bowls, mini golf courses built around helicopter crashes and a police riot van submerged in a fountain.
This was because Dismaland was in fact the work of famous street artist Banksy. The anonymous creator had chosen the seaside town as the location for his “sinister twist on Disneyland” which he described as a “family theme park unsuitable for children”.
“I loved the Tropicana as a kid, so getting to throw these doors open again is a real honour,” the graffiti artist explained in a press statement.
The selection of the lido as the location for Banksy’s dark critique of modern Britain seemed far from accidental. After closing its doors in the year 2000, the site had slipped further and further into disrepair as a series of regeneration attempts failed to materialise.
The last of these was the 2011 exit by developer Havard Tisdale which abandoned its proposals on the basis that they were no longer commercially viable.
“Many factors have changed, both in terms of the details of this project, but also with the progress of other sites in the town,” a spokesperson for the property firm told the BBC at the time.
Dismaland might have captured the gloomy atmosphere which blighted many seaside towns in the mid-2010s, but, for Weston-Super-Mare, being chosen as the location for the exhibition had an overwhelmingly positive impact.
In the brief two-month spell it was open celebrities ranging from Brad Pitt to Ant and Dec were amongst 150,000 visitors who flocked to the Somerset resort generating an estimated £20 million.
But according to John Owen, Regional Land Manager for Keepmoat Homes, the gift Banksy gave Weston-Super-Mare went far beyond those visitors or money.
“Banksy created a buzz,” he told the Express. “Anything he seems to touch brings people along and I think Weston-Super-Mare have tried to cultivate that sort of cool image [that Dismaland generated]. The local authority is trying, I think, to be seen as interesting and arty [and trying to make the town] a forward-thinking place for people to go.”
The consequences of this shifting of the narrative about the seaside town are substantial.
Whereas Havard Tisdale was concerned about the lack of progress on other sites in Weston-Super-Mare when pulling out of the Tropicana regeneration post-Dismaland the town is awash with evolving plans for new development.
Efforts are under way for a £1 billion expansion and regeneration of the seaside town, a vision which project backers claim will deliver 882,000 square feet of commercial space, 9,000 jobs and 6,000 new homes.
As Keepmoat’s land manager, Owen has been at the centre of the housebuilder’s involvement in this ambitious project
“We’ve got 425 homes [we plan to build] and we’re actually one of the smaller parts of it. The wider masterplan is almost like an urban extension to Weston-Super-Mare,” he explained.
“The idea has been quite a few years in the making, there’s a lot of housing need; in terms of affordable housing and smaller private sale housing. There’s a lot of demand because it’s got greater transport links and the [potential to be a major] commuter town.”
Owen said it was difficult to make direct comparisons to other places which had rejuvenated because few had such an ambitious large-scale housing project, but he had drawn inspiration from other seaside resorts which had developed reputations as affordable refuges for creatives priced out of a larger city.
He explained: “Margate and Ramsgate [in Kent], they’ve become Meccas for people leaving London and the prices shot up there.
“But I’m not sure that’s comparable because I don’t necessarily think it was new development driving that.”
Nevertheless, Owen believes those who will move into Keepmoat’s homes in Weston-Super-Mare will be drawn from nearby Bristol.
He added: “A big proportion of the people buying houses, particularly the new build houses, are commuters to Bristol.
“The value in Weston-Super-Mare is is lower than Bristol. So if you’re a first time buyer, maybe you could get a two-bed house in the south of Bristol somewhere, but actually you could just move 20 minutes down the motorway to get a three or maybe a four-bedroom house and would save money. That’s quite an easy decision.”
Banksy said it was peering through the fence at the Tropicana in January 2015 that inspired him to create a dystopian theme park. But he could have had no idea that this brainwave would be a catalyst in a £1 billion mega-project hoping to attract upscaling families from Bristol.
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